Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices and its associated risk factors related to Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Ilam province of Iran

Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) surveys precede an awareness or intervention program, it addresses a felt need in a population in which that need exists. In an endemic region of cutaneous leishmaniasis disease occurrence, public enlightenment on its preventive and control measures is highly important. Ilam province of Iran is a provincial border town transited annually by pilgrims was reported to have the most cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis ranking highest since 2010 yet no report on KAP survey has been previously conducted.

“What I want to do I do not do”: on bi- and multilingual repertoires and linguistic dislocation in a border town

Language problems and language barriers are challenges facing not only immigrants but also minorities and people in rural/semirural areas. This study examines individuals’ bi- and multilingual repertoires, language practices and attitudes in a Hokkien-speaking community in Kangar, a semirural town of northern Malaysia bordering Thailand. Through questionnaire surveys and interviews, we investigate how these notions can be used as a means to understand/reflect bilingualism and multilingualism and, more importantly, the potential disparity between what people want to do/say and what people eventually manage to do/say. While there is a shift in language practice from a local- and ancestral origin-induced pattern towards a more “global” and “pan-Chinese” paradigm, the findings also reveal the linguistic “dislocations” of the Hokkien-speaking community across ALL generations regardless of ethnicity. The language issues in the community reflect—and are likely to be reflections of—society at large. The vast contrast between individual/societal linguistic aspirations and the actual linguistic repertoire/communicative competence among the locals indicates the need to redress an absence of major efforts to close urban-rural/city-town/dominant-dominated social divides across the (language) education landscape at the national level.

‘It depends on us’: The experiences of fifteen young Burmese migrants living in the border town of Mae Sot, Thailand

<p>The Burmese diaspora in Thailand attracts significant academic attention. However, the voices of migrant Burmese children are largely unexplored and often ignored altogether. On arriving in Thailand young migrants find themselves located within a new cultural, social, and linguistically different geographic space. Underpinned by the recognition that migrant youth actively engage with the world around them, this study challenges the idea that young migrants are passive bearers of circumstance. Rather, as they seek education in Thailand they exercise their agency in unique ways by performing their cultural traditions, creating their ‘own place’, navigating opportunities, voicing critical political opinions, displaying resilience and setting future goals. Using the participatory method of ‘photo-voice’ this research explores the everyday experiences and stories of fifteen Burmese migrant children living in Thailand as they present them through photography. The participants, most of whom crossed the border unaccompanied, have assessed the relative opportunities available to them in Burma and Thailand. They have chosen to endure the hardships associated with living in a marginalised space away from their parents, culture and country in order to gain an education in Thailand. Technically considered ‘illegal’, these young migrants are facing their present challenges, setting life goals and bending the rules in order to receive an education and establish successful futures.</p>

‘It depends on us’: The experiences of fifteen young Burmese migrants living in the border town of Mae Sot, Thailand

<p>The Burmese diaspora in Thailand attracts significant academic attention. However, the voices of migrant Burmese children are largely unexplored and often ignored altogether. On arriving in Thailand young migrants find themselves located within a new cultural, social, and linguistically different geographic space. Underpinned by the recognition that migrant youth actively engage with the world around them, this study challenges the idea that young migrants are passive bearers of circumstance. Rather, as they seek education in Thailand they exercise their agency in unique ways by performing their cultural traditions, creating their ‘own place’, navigating opportunities, voicing critical political opinions, displaying resilience and setting future goals. Using the participatory method of ‘photo-voice’ this research explores the everyday experiences and stories of fifteen Burmese migrant children living in Thailand as they present them through photography. The participants, most of whom crossed the border unaccompanied, have assessed the relative opportunities available to them in Burma and Thailand. They have chosen to endure the hardships associated with living in a marginalised space away from their parents, culture and country in order to gain an education in Thailand. Technically considered ‘illegal’, these young migrants are facing their present challenges, setting life goals and bending the rules in order to receive an education and establish successful futures.</p>

Lithostratigraphy of the Vuurdood Subsuite, an early mafic-ultramafic phase of the Palaeoproterozoic Vioolsdrif Intrusive Suite, Richtersveld Magmatic Arc, Northern Cape Province

Mafic-ultramafic plutonic intrusions form an early phase in the emplacement of the predominantly granitic Vioolsdrif Suite, which together with its extrusive carapace, the Orange River Group, form the Richtersveld Magmatic Arc, a Palaeoproterozoic crustal segment formed between 1910 and 1865 Ma. Their lithologic character and distinctive dark weathering features in the mountain desert landscape of the Richtersveld, neighbouring regions of the Northern Cape Province and southern Namibia, make them a separate mappable unit in what is a predominantly granitic terrain. The name of the subsuite is taken from a spectacular twin peak massif near Goodhouse (Vuurdoodberg), while the type locality is one of the best preserved central-type intrusive bodies at Swartkop, situated 2 km off the N7 highway about 20 km south of the border town of Vioolsdrif, where the rock types present include gabbro, metagabbro, quartz-metagabbro, peridotite and troctolite.

Air Quality Index: A Case of One-Day Monitoring in 253 Nigerian Urban and Suburban Towns

Government departments use the air quality index (AQI) to inform the public about how unhealthy the air is now or may become in the future. As the AQI increases, so do the health threats. It is a daily air quality index that is used to report on air quality. In addition, a measure of how air pollution impacts one's health over a limited period of time. The AQI was created to assist people in understanding how local air quality affects their health. Therefore the aim of the study was to assess one-day air quality of 253 towns in Nigeria, thereby determining the health threat in these towns. The data was collected from the Tutiempo Network's regular data set by the EPA Environmental Protection Agency. Data on all of the major pollutants (O3, PM2.5, PM10, CO, NO, SO2) was collected and statistical analysis was performed. Kura (Kano State), a town in northern Nigeria, recorded the highest level of 184, while Idiroko, a border town (Nigeria-Benin Republic) in Ogun State, had the least value of 41. Kura was portrayed as unhealthy, while Idiroko was portrayed as healthy, implying that Idiroko air poses little to no danger, while Kura air showed that certain people of the general public, as well as members of sensitive groups, could encounter more severe health effects.